The Ice Life

Well, this isn’t good.

“Pressure is dropping on this one, the other might have a punctured lung. Get on the phone and call ahead, let them know we’re coming in hot with these two!”

Now we’re going to be late to the photo shoot, Kim and Caitlin are going to kill us.

“Ready Tim? One, two, three lift! Alright we’re in get moving! Ma’am? Ma’am can you hear me? My name is Dan, you and you friend have been in an accident.”

Accident?

“I need you to stay with me alright? Your friend is out cold, so if you can, tell me your names.”

I felt myself blink robotically and slowly; a man about my dad’s age came into focus above me. He had bright blue eyes that reminded me of a friend’s back home. A jolt that came from under me knocked air back into my lungs and I was suddenly very aware that I was in a moving vehicle and that I was in a lot of pain.

“Holy mother of…jesus fucking…what the fuck happened?” I groaned, feeling the air leave my lungs again as my vision blurred.

“You and your friend got hit head on by a drunk driver.” The paramedic’s voice reached my ears from what seemed like a very far away place, I was finding it very hard to keep my eyes open as I tried to listen to what he was telling me.

“Stupid drunks, why doesn’t anybody call a damn cab anymore?” My voice wheezed as I struggled for breath, feeling like I was drowning in my own body and slipping away from the kind man above me with the sky blue eyes.

I heard Dan chuckle; my eyes would no longer open for me no matter how hard I willed them to. “Hell if I know kid, can you tell me your name?”

“Sam.” I gasped, sending myself into a coughing fit that ended with me spitting up something warm and sticky; I didn’t need to waste much energy guessing what it could be.

“Shit, Troy step on it!” I felt Dan move away from me and heard clattering off to my left.

Another bump in the road jarred my head back against the board I was strapped down to and if my eyes had been open I would’ve been seeing stars at that moment. I felt something cold wrap itself around my gut and suddenly found myself being pulled away from Dan and his blue eyes and into a darker place. The air vanished from my lungs again, the weight on my chest was increasing with each passing second as my vision tunneled until I was seeing nothing but black. My senses faded as fast as my vision, all I could hear before I vanished into the void was the sporadic beat of a heart monitor somewhere nearby.

*~*
“Both lost consciousness on the drive here! This one might have a punctured lung, a broken arm, and a loss of a lot of blood from a large piece of glass that pierced the main artery in her right leg.”

Oh lord, what have I gotten myself into now?

“How’s the other?”

“At least three broken ribs! Severe trauma to the head, there’s glass embedded deep in her scalp that’s caused her to lose a great deal of blood, plus a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder.”

Well damn, some people got real messed up tonight. I wonder what happened? Ouch, screw these lights! Wait, where the hell am I?!

Air filled Mallory’s lungs as her eyes were finally able to focus on the piercing lights of the overheads in the emergency room. Pain exploded deep from within her bones as a wave of nausea swept over her. A team of nurses quickly lifted her onto a surgical table and the face of a masked doctor appeared over her seconds later, his eyes widening when he saw she had managed to regain consciousness.

“The brunette is awake! Get me an anesthesiologist stat and a trauma kit!” He quickly turned his attention back to Mallory, lowering his mask to speak to her. “Mallory, my name is Dr. James Timber and I’m here to help you. Do you understand?”

She gasped, trying to tell him that of course she understood him, but instead of her normal biting sarcasm she only managed to spit out drops of blood, “Fuck!”

Dr. Timber set his mouth in a grim line and drew his mask back up, reaching over her to gently set an oxygen mask over her mouth. Mallory gulped in as much air as she could before the mask was removed again, this time by a nurse, and she felt her arms being pricked by needles and tubes being inserted into her-pumping her full of saline and pain killers. Eyes darting around rapidly, she felt panic rise up in her as she realized what had happened to her and Sam.

“No wait!” She wheezed, seeing the anesthesiologist and his team arrive and prepare the drug. “Where’s my friend? Short, blonde named Sam?!” Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt as if the team of doctors and surgeons had put her on a cheap carnival ride that twisted rapidly in the air.

“Her pressure is dropping! Doctor her hear rate is all over the place, if we’re going to save her we need to do this now!”

Dr. Timbers appeared next to Mallory again, locking eyes with his fading patient. “Everything will be alright Mallory, you’ll see your friend again soon. Just relax and let the medicine do its…”

His words were lost to Mallory as her vision tunneled again and she was left in a daze, pondering over the doctor’s words to her. She knew she was going to see Sam again, but the question was if she was going to see her again in the land of the living?

*~*

“Why are you so cute?!”

“It’s a freaking puppy, why wouldn’t it be cute?” Kim snatched a yellow lab puppy out of Tyler Kennedy’s arms and began cooing to it in a baby voice.

TK stared at her with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to think of you the same way again, Kim.”

“Yeah, whatever. You can suck it TK.” Kim made a face at the Penguins’ player before turning back to the wiggling puppy in her arms.

It had been two hours since Sam and Mallory had left to go get food and the break for the photo shoot was about to end. With their top journalist and sportscaster missing, the group was in disarray as they tried to regroup the players and animals to continue the shoot.

“Hey, where’s my girl?” Milan twisted around and scanned the room, not seeing his girlfriend anywhere. “Aren’t her and Sam back yet?”

Kris walked over to join the group with a worried look on his face. “I just tried calling Sam, three times, she didn’t pick up.”

“Do you think they just hit traffic?” Caitlin asked, tugging on her hair nervously.

“At this hour? I don’t think so, but something has obviously held them up.” Kim shook her head, absentmindedly stroking the head of the puppy. “Should we try and continue the shoot without them?”

Nobody answered as the crew members scrambled by them with camera equipment, lights, and baby animals.

“Hey! What the heck is the hold up?” Brian strode over the to group, hands on his hips and an irritated glare on his face. “And where is that fiery little hell cat from before?”

“Mallory and Sam haven’t come back yet, and we’re getting worried.” Caitlin answered, slapping a hand over Milan’s mouth to prevent the stream of violent profanities from spewing out his mouth toward the baseball player.

“Just call them and-”

“Do you really think we didn’t try that already?” Kim snarled, handing the puppy off to Evgeni and storming toward Brian. “They aren’t answering their phones and we have no idea what happened to them, so get off your high horse and help us out or just get out of here.”

Brian held his hands up in surrender. “Alright, I’m sorry! Well, maybe we should just go out and look for them.”

“You want to search the entire city of Pittsburgh?” Sidney asked, bewildered by the suggestion.

“If you guys have no idea where they could be then why not?” Brian shrugged. “Where did they go to get food? We can start there.”

“Sam wanted her massive bag of Cheetos, so they went back to the house.” Kim stated, laughing slightly. “She claimed the ones from the gas station wouldn’t have tasted the same as the ones from home.”

“Great, so let’s start there.”

*~*
The house was empty when the group arrived, the only thing that proved Mallory and Sam had been there was the open door to the cabinet where Sam’s Cheetos’ had been. Silence permeated the house, creating an uncomfortable pit in the stomachs of everyone there.

“This feels like something out of scary movie, or a crime scene.” TK muttered as he walked through the kitchen, glancing up at the open cabinet before softly shutting it.

“Well, at least we know they were here.” Sid offered, trying to keep the moral up for his friends.

“But where did they go afterwards?” Caitlin asked in a panic. “We don’t know where they are or what happened to them! They could’ve gotten kidnapped or lost or-”

As she fumbled over her words, Sidney came forward and pulled her into a tight hug. Overwhelmed with the situation, Caitlin buried her face in his chest and hid her face from view. The others sighed unanimously, feeling as lost as Caitlin did. Kris slumped down on the couch and picked up the remote, turning the TV on and flipping through channels. Kim and Geno went into the kitchen to talk with Tyler, who was still staring despairingly at the cabinet. Being the only two left, Milan and Brian stood awkwardly in the foyer together. Milan shook his head and walked over to join Kris on the couch, grabbing a throw pillow and hugging it close to his chest.

“Hey wait! Go back!” Milan said hurriedly, looking urgently from Kris to the TV.

Confused, Kris switched back to a local news station that was covering a car accident. Slowly, the group clustered around the TV and watched as the reporter confirmed that a head on collision had taken place near the arena and that there had been one casualty and two severe injuries.

“Damn, how did we not notice that? With all the flashing lights and whatnot?” Kim wondered, watching as the screen switched to a panning view of the scene of the accident.

“We left through the back entrance, this was on the other side of the arena.” Sidney said, taking notice of the scene. “Wait, don’t we know that car?”

“Oh my God….”

Horror filled the eyes of each person in that room as they stared at the TV screen. The only thing that could be seen on screen at that moment was Mallory’s Hummer, battered and beaten in like giant black tin can.

*~*

It’s a strange feeling; to realize that the last sight you could ever see may be the face of the doctor that’s trying to save you. Sam thought back on the last few hours, before the crash, she remembered the antics that went on during the photo shoot and the friendly teasing between her and the other girls as they left the house. Flashes of people’s faces came to her, each one bringing a different feeling with it-Kris, Sidney, Mallory, Caitlin, TK, Geno, Marc, Kim, Milan, and so many more. There wasn’t pain wracking her body anymore, just a sense of calm and peace. ‘If I die on this table, then I hope everyone else will go on living for me.’

There was a shift somewhere under her, like the rocking motion of a boat that had just been docked. Suddenly, her core burst into what felt like fire. Immense heat spread from her sternum out to the rest of her body, shooting up her arms, crawling down her legs, and exploding inside her head. Pain returned briefly, like a white flash of lightning bursting behind her eyes, and then everything vanished. Nothing but en empty and cold feeling was left inside her.

If Sam had been awake she would’ve blinked in confusion and looked around, but she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t do anything but just think and process those thoughts. The world around her, in her head anyway, was just a black void. It was almost as if she had been placed inside a dark room; there was no noise, no light, and no smell. ‘This is really weird….what the hell is going on?’

*~*
“She’s finally stabilizing, I think it’d be safe to move her out into a room now.”

“I know, I just don’t want to risk anything. Give it a few minutes, just to be sure.”

Above and around Mallory was the soft shuffle movement and the clinking of medical equipment. Off to her right she could her the steady beeping of a heart monitor, a small weight on her finger lead her to realize there was a pulse monitor taped there, and somewhere to her left was the soft murmur of voices. She could feel a dull ache that went as deep as the marrow in her bones, the desire to scream out in frustration bubbled up in her throat. The smell of sickly sweet medicine, bleach, and alcohol wafted up to her nose and the urge became even stronger. Sweat broke out over her body and she felt her breathing become more erratic.
‘I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here…’ Panic rose up in her again when she tried to move her arms and felt them restricted by something, tubes of some kind. They were in her, pumping her full of fluids that chilled her body and smelled like something unnatural. Something touched her on the arm and she flinched, desperate to get away but feeling trapped by the medical equipment that was keeping her alive. When she raised her hands to rip the IV’s out of her, strong arms held her down and pinned her to the bed. Mallory thrashed and twisted her body, ignoring the blistering pain burning through her body. The heart monitor beeped erratically next to her.

“We need back up in here! Mallory, you need to stay calm ok? Everything is going to be fine.”

A door slammed open and a rush of footsteps reached her ears. More hands appeared and pushed her back, trying to keep her confined to the bed that made her feel sick. Rage and panic flowed through her as she fought the oppressive hands of the nurses and doctors.

“Somebody get a sedative!”

‘No!’ A fresh wave of panic washed over her at the thought of being sent back into the dark pit where she had just come from, where there was nothing but sickly smells and eerie silence. ‘There is no way I’m going back there, no way in hell!’ Mallory thrashed her body again, trying her best to push the restraining hands and arms off her. The ‘clink!’ of a syringe hitting the metal pole where her IV was streamed fear into her brain and finally opened her up to the world.

“NO!”

*~*
“This place is a god damn maze!” Kim stomped back from reading a map next to elevators in the lobby of the hospital emergency room. “How the hell are we going to find them if the damn directory doesn’t even have half the hospital listed?”

“We will find them. Soon.” Evgeni reassured her, gently putting an arm around her frustrated frame. “We search every floor if we must.”

Kim huffed but gratefully leaned into the tall Russian’s embrace, ignoring sly looks the others we’re giving her. Caitlin, Sidney, and Tyler quickly walked off to ask a nurse where they could find information on Mallory and Sam while both Kim and Geno spoke quietly to each other in the waiting room. Frustrated with the lack of information they were given, both Milan and Kris paced restlessly in front of the elevator doors.

“This is ridiculous! Why can’t they just be straight with us?!” Milan growled, throwing his hands up and nearly hitting a nurse who was coming out of the elevator.

“Pourquoi n'est-ce pas nous aider? Je veux juste la voir, de savoir qu'elle va bien.” Kris hissed, running his hands through his hair and making it even more of a mess then it normally was.

The thought of either of the girls being injured sent both hockey players into a restless fit, neither could bear to sit still for more then a minute or two. Grim thoughts and terrifying images plagued their minds as they waited for news to arrive from the nurse at the receptionist desk. Brian stood in the middle of the room, looking between the three small groups around him, not sure how to make himself useful to them. He spotted a man in scrubs and a surgical mask walking toward the elevators, a stack of files under his arm.

“Hey! Excuse me, doctor man?” Brian jogged up and quickly stepped in front of the tired looking surgeon.

“What can I do for you son?” The man sighed, shifting the files under his arm.

“Look, our two friends were in a terrible car crash tonight and I was wondering if you knew anything about them?”

Weariness entered the doctor’s eyes as he tried to recount the countless people he’d help save that night. “We get a lot of crash victims here, what can you tell me about them?”

“Their names are Mallory and Samantha, they work for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Mal drives a big black Hummer.” Brian answered hurriedly, anxiously running his hands over his hair as he watched the doctor flip through some of the files in his hands.

“Hmmm, those names sound familiar.” The doctor frowned and shuffled some files around in his arms. “Ah yes I knew I remembered those two, I performed surgery on Mallory a few hours ago.”

Relief washed over Brian, he exhaled the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in. “Oh god that’s great, that you remember her and whatnot. Is she okay? What room is she in? Can we see her?”

“Easy now kid, I just left her room. She stabilized well and I just had her put up in room 508.”

Brian grabbed his hand and began shaking it repeatedly, grinning widely. “Thank you! Thank you so much Doctor….?”

“Timbers. James Timbers. Just get a wristband from Ally over in the receptionist booth and you and your friends can head on up to see her.” Dr. Timbers smiled at the baseball player before stepping around him to enter the elevator.

Excitement poured through his body as Brian ran back to the main lobby area, grabbing Kim and Evgeni as he went by. As the four of them walked over, Caitlin, Sidney, and TK were walking back from the desk with multiple wristbands in their hands. Still overwhelmed with emotion, Milan and Kris were standing on separate sides of the room, heads down and eyes closed with pained expressions on their faces.

“Hey! I just talked to the guy who performed surgery on Mal, she’s on the fifth floor.” Brian explained, waving Milan and Kris over as Caitlin walked around to give everyone a wristband.

“We know, we finally got some information out of the stupid receptionist. Sam’s in the room next to her, 507.” She quickly taped the last wristband on herself and headed toward the elevator. “Let’s go, I don’t want to wait down here for another second.”

The group herded into the elevators, smashing themselves up against the walls and each other in order to fit everyone in. Once the doors close the elevator groaned to life and began crawling up the floors

“If we didn’t have so many gigantic buffoons of men with us we could be on the fifth floor already.” Kim groaned, shooting the men in the elevator dirty looks.

“How is this our fault?” Sid asked, turning his head to frown down at her.

“You’re all immensely fat, that’s why the elevator is going so slow.”

“Hey! I’ve been dieting! There’s no way I gained more weight recently.” Tyler cried out, looking down at his stomach.

“You’re on a diet TK?” Kris snorted, rolling his eyes. “You just keep giving us more ammo to use against you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” As the words left Tyler’s mouth the elevator squeaked to a stop on the third floor.

“Ugh, what now?” Brian complained, straining to see around Kris and Milan as the doors opened.

On the other side of the doors was a man standing behind a wheelchair holding a young woman who appeared to be in labor. Wide eyed, everyone froze and stared at each other until Milan jumped forward. He quickly reached over TK and Sidney to push the button to close the elevator doors again.

“Sorry lady, my woman needs me!”

The doors closed on the shocked faces of the husband and wife with a soft ‘click’ and left the group to all stare at Milan in disapproval. The Bruins’ player threw his hands up in frustration and rolled his eyes.

“Well its not like any of you would’ve had the balls to do it!”

“I really do wonder what Mal sees in you sometimes.” Caitlin shook her head, turning her focus back to watching the floors slowly tick by.

“She sees my impeccable charm, good looks, deep manly voice-”

“Somebody shut him up before I slap the shit out of him.” Kim snapped, trying to reach around Evgeni to hit him.

“Seriously guys? Our two best friends are laying in hospital beds hurt and you’re arguing over crap like this?” Caitlin turned to glare at the two before hurrying to step out of the elevator; they’d finally reached the fifth floor.

Anxiety quickly spread through all of them as they stepped out of the elevator. The hallway was quiet and empty for the most part, every once in a while a nurse would walk by with papers in her hands or linens for beds. The walls were lined with countless doors that held recovering patients, at the end of the hallway it split so you could either walk left or right. To the left was a long desk where patients could check out, to the right were more rooms that were shielded only by a thin curtain instead of door.

Slowly, the group progressed down the hallway to the check out desk. The two women behind it glanced up at their arrival and began speaking to Sidney and Caitlin in soft tones. The other six walked back over to the main hallway, glancing at room numbers as they went.

“I don’t see 507 or 508, how the hell is this place set up?” Kris glared at the floor, his French accent becoming more prominent as his frustration grew.

“I have an idea!” Tyler said, he coughed to clear his throat. “MALLORY!! SAM!! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!”

Kim spazzed out and smacked the Penguin’s forward repeatedly on the arm. “What the hell is wrong with you? This is a damn hospital! People are trying to get better here, close you damn mouth.”

“Fuck it, I’m looking for them.” Milan stormed off with Kris close behind him.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kim yelled after them, looking over at Tyler in confusion.

“Don’t be yelling Kimberly, this is a hospital! People are trying to get better here.” Tyler smirked at Kim, snickering to himself.

“Oh now you’re a one dead mother-”

“What the hell is going on?” Caitlin stormed over with Sidney is tow.

“This moron is yelling like an obnoxious monkey, and those two love struck tweens just decided to wander off.” Kim snapped, crossing her arms and staring down Tyler.

“What do you mean they wandered off?” Caitlin asked baffled, looking around for Kris and Milan.

“Oh, shit.” Sid pointed down the other side of the hall where the curtained rooms were.

Kris and Milan were going from room to room, opening the curtains and checking to see if either Sam or Mallory were in there.

“Sam? Mal?” Milan poked his head in on an elderly woman and her son. Nope, sorry ma’am!”

Caitlin gasped in horror and rushed over to where they were making fools of themselves, Sidney followed her and shook his head in disbelief. Kim snorted and elbowed Evgeni in the side, muttering something about how she couldn’t wait to see them all get dragged out by security. Tyler and Brian stood awkwardly by the wall, not sure of what to do.

Their attention was drawn away from their bickering friends to a group of nurses rushing to the end of hall; some were carrying medical equipment with them. The large group hurried into the second to last door on the left side of the hall, across from where Tyler and Brian were standing.

“Wonder what’s going on there?” Brian mused, nodding his head toward the room.

“Maybe someone’s having a heart attack or something.” TK shrugged, squinting his eyes to get a better look at the room. “Wait, am I blind or does that number look like what I think it does?”

“Holy crap!” Brian jumped forward, his eyes wide with shock.

“Guys! Get over here!” Tyler rushed towards where the others were, waving his arms frantically. “We found Mallory!”

Everyone’s heads snapped forward and only a moment passed before they were all in motion, hurrying down the hall to where TK was standing. He quickly pointed toward the door, directing his friends toward the hospital room. As they reached the door, a deafening scream reached their ears from the other side of the door.

“NO!”